Big Paw

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West Coast Native News (Facebook)
This is how big a grizzly bears paw is – by the way, the bear is sedated and about to be tagged. I’m in absolute awe!

Via – @sasagronomy

 

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Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, August 19, 2015

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  • DaughterGeeding starts kindergarten on Monday and last night her charter school had an orientation and then an opportunity to meet her teacher.  I’m now turning into one of “those parents”.
    • The whole thing wasn’t well organized and almost a logistical nightmare.  Maybe I’m being hard on them as this is the first year for the school to exist, but part of my job is to make things intuitive and user friendly, and things just felt chaotic last night.  So perhaps I’m always judging and evaluating things on how they can be better, and that might not be fair.
    • For instance, the headmaster spoke but never introduced himself.  Hey dude, you’re not Bono, not everyone knows who you are the moment you’re on stage.  On top of that, he didn’t introduce anyone else, not even the assistant headmaster.
    • The faculty and staff seem well versed in touting the company line.  I kept hearing “our job it to work with parents in raising children to be good men and women” and “our students study the best of our Western and American heritage”.  That second line kinda scares me, not that I think there’s anything bad about teaching students those things, but it seems like there’s a hidden meaning behind the message.  Furthermore, you’ll also hear “our course of study helped propel Western Civilization to the top of the world when it comes to civic institutions, personal liberty, philanthropy, economic enterprise, technological innovation, and relative safety and security.”  I’m just going to follow Reagan’s lead here and “trust, but verify”.
    • One parent pulled out her phone and recorded the entire orientation.  Another set of parents made their kids wear their uniforms to the orientation, and they were the only ones wearing their uniforms.  They both had that look of “Mom, Dad, why did you make us dress up, no one else is dressed up and now everybody knows who we are.”
    • DaughterGeeding’s teacher’s last name is “Honey”.  We also learned that on the first day of kindergarten, she’ll have homework.  Baptism by fire, I guess.  Heck, in college I still remember how some classes basically went over the syllabus and you were out of there.
    • It’s really interesting getting WifeGeeding’s take on all this as she’s taught kindergarten almost all of her adult life.  She notices the little things.  For instance, she said whenever she meets a student for the first time, it’s important to squat down and speak to the child on their level to better engage and welcome them, and none of that was done last night.
    • We met a lot of parents that want to start carpooling, which I’m open to, but it seems like they all think it’s okay to just have your kids start commuting with people you’ve never met.  I’m not trying to be overly protective, but I want to establish a comfort level first before putting my child in the car of a stranger.
    • I thought I might have gotten a bit of a late start in life starting a family (this coming from a kid who’s father was 52 when I was born) but there seemed to be a lot of white-haired men with children going into kindergarten.
  • BoyGeeding must have thought he was Ant-Man because he decided to put ant killer granules in his mouth which resulted in a call to poison control.
  • We’ve got such a strange political electoral system.  We want elite leaders who are at the top of their class, but we make them dumb themselves down by having them trot through Iowa and their state fair, compliment a cow made out of butter, and watch them stuff their faces while acting as if they are “of the people” and “just like us”.  As usual, I don’t have the answer, I just like griping about the problem, but it’s weird how Iowa is such a clarifier, as if they represent the whole country because they host the first primary.
  • If there’s one thing I learned from ‘Hard Knocks’, it’s that Brian Cushing is a bonafide jackass, but off the field he seems like a good guy.  The other, I really like their head coach.
  • You don’t want to read about the Friends Forever Tampon.
  • The face of Christ appeared in smoke trails produced by a Red Arrow plane at an airshow in Eastbourne, Sussex
  • San Antonio Express News – The Texas Mexican Mafia, explained
  • “Straight Outta Compton” not playing in Compton – because the city has no movie theaters
  • Purdue University proposes selling shares of students’ future income – private investors will fund their education, and get paid back as a portion of the students’ future income. It’s called an Income Share Agreement (ISA)—if students earn more than expected after university, they pay back more; if they earn less, they pay less.
  • New Jersey News – Gun charge dropped against man who can’t use his arms
  • Ashley Madison hackers appear to have followed through on threat to expose users – That article provides a link to search a database for any names or emails.
  • Niagara Falls police hunt for U.S. family after baby removed uninjured from hotel safe
  • GIF – This kid has the best dog ever
Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Indiana woman marries Jesus

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The bride’s name is Jessica Hayes, the groom is Jesus Christ. Saturday morning, she became the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese’s first consecrated virgin in 25 years.

It’s not the wedding day Hayes envisioned for herself as a little girl. Sure it came with the same struggles any bride-to-be would have, like finding the perfect dress.

“I’ve seen so many wedding dresses over the years that I think I’ve probably changed my mind very many times. I had to really consider the appropriateness of the occasion for my dress. I wanted my shoulders to be covered, and I would have to lie prostrate before the altar, so I really wanted to make sure that I was well-covered in a way that still shows the beauty of a bride,” Hayes said.

For the 38-year-old theology teacher from Bishop Dwenger High School, this commitment represents years of prayer and soul-searching.

“I had been praying about it for years, trying to seek God’s will for my life and not really finding it in any of the paths that I sought before. It was really a consideration of which things brought me the most joy and where my greatest happiness was. It seemed that all of those loves converged on this one thing where I could still be living in the world and be a part of the lives of my students and be studying and teaching and involved in a parish life, but I could also give myself more completely by making this total commitment of my life to serve the church in whatever capacity is needed and whatever capacity my own gifts are available for,” Hayes said.

A consecrated virgin is a fairly rare occurrence in the Catholic church. Saturday’s ceremony makes Hayes the only one in the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese. There are approximately 3,000 around the world and more than 200 in the United States.

As one might expect, the vocation comes with some confusion.

“My students asked if they should call me Mrs. Hayes when I come back to school next week, and no, I’m still Ms. But, I am married to Jesus,” Hayes said.

Full wane.com Article

Posted in Spiritual | 3 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, August 18, 2015

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  • KFC decided to switch Darrell Hammond for Norm Macdonald as the new Colonel.  I have a feeling KFC is doing a bit and we’ll see someone else in the coming months.
  • It’s always a struggle to figure out where to park at Lowe’s or Home Depot.  I’m never quite sure if I’m better off parking closer to the entrance or the exit.
  • Many may already know about Cheap DFW, a website that lists inexpensive flights from both DFW and Love Field, but if not, here you go.  It also provides links for Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.
  • I can’t recall how WifeGeeding and I got into this conversation, but she said anytime she hears the word “Remington” she thinks of bullets because her father is a hunter.  For me, I think of electric shavers, because my father had one, though I never saw him use it.  I’m sure for someone else, they probably think of Pierce Brosnan.
  • Random movie memory – Chevy Chase in Fletch Lives getting out of a fight with a biker gang because he pretended to be related to the Harley in Harley Davidson.  R. Lee Ermey, the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket played a televangelist and the female lead was the first wife of Bruce Springsteen.  And here’s a hot movie opinion, Fletch Lives was much better than Fletch.
  • I love Barry over at LiberallyLean.com, and he’s entitled to post whatever he wants on his on blog, but there’s been a flood of Baylor football posts as of late and the season hasn’t even started.  If this continues I’m going to start a Kickstarter campaign to develop a browser plugin to filter all those references out and replace them with tweets from Justice Don Willett.
  • MONEY – 50 Best Places to Live 2015 – Coppell, TX comes in at number eight
  • Dallas Eater – 16 Essential DFW Ice Cream Destinations
  • If you fear heights, you may not want to look at this GIF.
  • George Zimmerman unveils Confederate flag painting to benefit ‘Muslim free’ gun shop owner
  • When the kids want a bubble bath, I confess, sometimes I use Simple Green.
Posted in Personal | 6 Comments